Hasta La Gadget!

It’s strange to see another network provider stepping up to the plate for Verizon, but some of T-Mobile’s big hitters have visited the FCC to do just that. The company wants Verizon’s acquisition of AWS spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap to be pushed through as quickly as possible, and its motives are pretty obvious: it comes just a month after the companies agreed to some friendly bandwidth-sharing once the deal’s done. T-Mobile has also challenged comments from the Rural Telecommunications Group (RTG), which argues that Verizon’s acquisition will hurt competition. Oh, how things have changed since T-Mobile was battling in completely the opposite direction.

T-Mobile urges the FCC to approve Verizon’s spectrum deal originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a curious thing to have gold signify the low-end, but that’s just what Huawei’s done with its G series smartphone line. That bottom-dwelling, budget tier, first announced at this past Mobile World Congress, has already seen a couple of category cousins come out into the open (see: Vodafone’s G 300 and T-Mobile’s G 312), so color us unsurprised to find yet another single-core, Googlefied device crop up at the FCC. The associated docs leave little to the imagination, treating us to unobstructed images of the Ascend G 302D — presumably, a 4-incher. We’re not quite sure what software the phone’ll run when it ships, though from the looks of those very ICS-like capacitive keys, we wouldn’t rule Android 4.0 out. Spec-wise, we have the included manual and some RF testing to go off of, revealing two different sized batteries — a 1,350mAh and 1,500mAh — support for Bluetooth, WiFi b/g/n and AT&T-compatible radios. That’s not to say this lil’ guy’s guaranteed an official U.S. slot on that carrier’s lineup, but it should make for a decent import option. Hit up the source below for additional shots of this mobile minor leaguer.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Huawei Ascend G 302D goes public in FCC docs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you cast your mind back several months, you might recall Archos unveiling a new range of tablets that can pair up with a keyboard add-on. While the French tablet maker kept quiet on the specifics at its debut– with not even a mention of the hardware’s OS — a filing at the FCC helps plug some of those information gaps. Courtesy of the user manual, we can see that the tablet will be running Android 4.0, while the as-yet unspecified storage capacity can be expanded by microSD. There’s a mini-HDMI port that looks like it will require its own proprietary cable, and the keyboard dock? Well, it’s absent from this FCC gallery, but it does appear in the user manual, demonstrating a twist and lift mechanism that creates a pop-up stand for the slab. Gaze on in horror as those FCC technicians prise open the Archos 101 xs’ shell and scope out the internal works — it’s all in the source below.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Archos’ Transformer rival reappears, passes federal inspection, forgets its keyboard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint’s second quarter figures have arrived, showing that the company’s billion-dollar gamble on the iPhone isn’t working right now. While it sold 1.5 million Apple-branded handsets in the three month period (40 percent to new and postpaid customers), it recorded an operating loss of $629 million and a colossal net loss of $1.4 billion — compared to an operating loss of $255 million and a net loss of $863 million in the first quarter. Operating revenues of $8.8 billion improved on those in the first quarter by a single percent — mostly due to higher service fees from its wireless offerings. It’s also grown its cash reserves, up from $128 million last quarter to $267 million today, and can point to 442,000 postpaid and 141,000 new prepaid subscribers pushing the company’s customer base up to 56 million nationwide — mentioning that 60 percent of former Nextel users chose to remain with Sprint during the enforced change.

The figures reveal that Sprint’s eating around $782 million due to the shutdown of the Nextel platform and a further $184 million to end leases on antenna sites for the moribund network. It’s also having to take a hit of $204 million due to its investment into infrastructure partner Clearwire. It’s affirmed its $1 billion lending facility, contingent upon purchasing gear from Ericsson to help build its LTE network, which it aims to have installed in 12,000 sites by the end of the year. Of course, that purchase was prompted by the collapse of Philip Falcone’s doomed LightSquared project, which caused the Now Network to lose $66 million in cash and its childhood innocence when it comes to trusting other people.

Update: Big Yellow also mentioned that it has no plans to adopt a shared data plan to follow AT&T and Verizon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet

Sprint’s iPhone gamble isn’t paying off as 2012 Q2 figures reveal $629 million operating loss originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Half a year has gone by with nary a word nor sighting, but it looks like Fujitsu’s svelte Stylistic M532 tab is ready to break cover. Spotted in the FCC’s database, the 10.1-inch Android slate bears all the makings of a WiFi-only affair, as it lists support for a/b/g/n protocols, in addition to Bluetooth. From what we’ve gleaned in the separate filings, the ICS tablet should also come loaded up with a 3,170mAh battery — a generous cell size to complement its Tegra 3 CPU. Aside from this recent Commission appearance, no official announcement has been made to port this slim fella stateside. But where there’s an FCC doc, there’s usually a launch not far away. Check out the source below to sort through the usual RF tests or head to the company’s own site for more legit shots.

Filed under: Tablet PCs

Fujitsu Stylistic M532 Android tablet cozies up to the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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